Currently, there are seventeen unaccompanied minors being detained in a special immigration detention facility within the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport located in Roissy, a Paris suburb.

Foreigners who don’t have the proper visas to enter France are sometimes detained in special facilities called ZAPIs, which is short for “waiting areas”, that exist in every airport and major train station in France.

One of the 17 minors is just ten years old, according to Anafé, which has a permanent presence in the ZAPIs. The other minors are between the ages of 13 and 17.

Among them a ten-year-old

"They all arrived about fifteen days ago,” says Laure Palun, a member of Anafé.

Some were carrying false papers, while others simply didn’t have passports or other forms of identification.

"We still haven’t established their nationalities or the country where they started their journey,” Palun says.

"People who are detained in the ZAPIs are deprived of their liberties,” she says. “They are a bit like dormitories. But there is a constant police presence and there are cameras and barbed wire.”

According to the French border police (known as the PAF) and the Interior Minister, these so-called “waiting areas” are not prisons. Like other immigration detention centres, they are run independently of the French prison system.

The ZAPI in Roissy has a special section for minors, but it only has six places. As a result, 11 of the minors were moved to the adult zone, “which runs counter to Article 37 of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child,” said Anafé in a press release.

What will happen to these young people?

Minors without any family members will be assigned to a caseworker, who will take on the role of their legal representative.

"There are also Red Cross staff who work in the zones reserved for minors,” Palun said. “They offer daily support and reassurance.”

Minors (just like those over the age of 18) can only be held in the ZAPIs for up to 20 days.

After four days of administrative procedures, a judge examines their case. It’s up to the judge to decide if the minors will be freed. At this point, anyone underage person can request to be taken into care through social services.

Can you claim asylum from within a ZAPI?

“Yes, but you have to know that is an option,” said Palun.

Anyone who is being detained in a ZAPI can claim asylum-- no matter what their age.

How it works

Once a person claims asylum, that claim is transferred to Ofpra (the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless persons.

An Ofpra protection officer then meets with the asylum seeker. This initial interview is just to assess the merits of the claim, not to make any decisions about it.

In the airports in Orly (south of Paris), Marseille and Lyon, asylum seekers talk to Ofpra officials through a video conference. In other stations and airports in France, the interviews are done by phone.

After the interview, Ofpra writes up an opinion on the claim and sends it to the Interior Minister.

After consulting with Ofpra, the Minister of the Interior makes the decides whether or not to let the asylum seeker onto French soil so that he or she can continue the asylum claim.

If the Minister of the Interior allows said person to pursue their claim, then the asylum seeker is allowed to set foot on French soil. That means the person can leave the ZAPI and go to a police station to formally file an asylum claim, which would earn them international protection.

If the Minister of the Interior denies the person entry, then that person is declared not eligible. These people can be deported any time. Usually, they are sent back to the country by which they entered France.

In this case, a person can appeal the decision at any point in the next 48 hours.

"In a ZAPI, the goal is always the same, to turn people away,” says Anafé.

Palun says that French authorities just have “one goal-- to turn people away.”

“Some people who are over age are deported the day they arrive,” Palun says.

The French border police then examine the documents belonging to the asylum seeker. If the police don’t think that the documents are valid, then they can decide to deny entry. This will eventually lead to the person being deported.